tips for writing a phd thesis

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10 tips for writing a PhD thesis

Ingrid curl shares simple rules for keeping your work clear and jargon-free.

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Writing up a PhD can often take place in a frenzy of activity in the last few months of your degree study, after years of hard work. But there are some steps that you can take to increase your chances of success.

• Do not be daunted by the task of “writing up”. Work on the text as your PhD takes shape, remember that all writers need editing, and help yourself by using these basic tips to make life easier. Read what great writers say about how to write before you start, and take their advice to heart. There is no dark art to clear, concise work; it is mostly a result of editing, and editing again. Above all, keep Elmore Leonard’s advice in mind: “If it reads like writing…rewrite it.”
• Plan the structure of your thesis carefully with your supervisor. Create rough drafts as you go so that you can refine them as you become more focused on the write-up. Much of writing comprises rewriting so be prepared to rework each chapter many times. Even Ernest Hemingway said: “The first draft of everything is shit.”
• Academic writing does not have to be dry. Inject some flair into your work. Read advice on writing and remember George Orwell’s words in Why I Write : “Never use the passive where you can use the active”; and Mark Twain’s on adjectives: “When you catch an adjective, kill it.” If you prefer, Stephen King said: “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
• Do not write up in chronological order. Work on each chapter while it is fresh in your mind or pertinent to what you are doing at that moment, but come back to it all later and work it up into a consistent, coherent piece, restructuring sections where necessary.
• Think carefully about your writing. Write your first draft, leave it and then come back to it with a critical eye. Look objectively at the writing and read it closely for style and sense. Look out for common errors such as dangling modifiers, subject-verb disagreement and inconsistency. If you are too involved with the text to be able to take a step back and do this, then ask a friend or colleague to read it with a critical eye. Remember Hemingway’s advice: “Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.” Clarity is key.
• Most universities use a preferred style of references. Make sure you know what this is and stick to it. One of the most common errors in academic writing is to cite papers in the text that do not then appear in the bibliography. All references in your thesis need to be cross-checked with the bibliography before submission. Using a database during your research can save a great deal of time in the writing-up process. Helpful software includes EndNote or Paperpile. Managing your bibliography from day one may seem obsessive but it will save you a great deal of time and stress by the end of the PhD process.
• Use a house style. Professional publications such as Times Higher Education use a house style guide to ensure consistency in spelling. For example, do not use both -ise spellings and -ize spellings, stick to British spelling and be consistent when referring to organisations or bodies. Because dictionaries vary in their use of hyphenation, use one dictionary and stick to it throughout the writing process. If you consult the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors , you will note the extraordinary number of words with alternative spellings. It can also be a very useful guide to preferred spellings, use of italicisation and foreign phrases.
• Take care when quoting from other sources. Ensure you note whether the italic emphasis is in the original and take careful notes when you are collecting quotes for your thesis. Transcribe them accurately to save work later and keep original spellings (even if they differ from your chosen style) to ensure fidelity to your source.
• Think about plagiarism. If you are quoting from works, quote from them accurately and paraphrase where necessary for your argument. This is where careful note-taking and use of references is invaluable and will help you to avoid even inadvertently plagiarising another work.
• Remember that your thesis is your chance to present your work in the best possible light. Consider your opening paragraphs, entice your reader with your writing and above all be clear about your hypothesis and your conclusion. Append material where it adds value but not where it merely bulks out your work. Consider your reader at all times. This is your chance to showcase your work.

If you stick to these simple rules, your writing will be clear and jargon-free. Above all, take to heart Orwell’s advice: “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.”

Ingrid Curl is associate editor of  Times Higher Education , and a former PhD student.

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Tip 1: Break it into such small, discrete goals that you almost feel silly writing them down individually.

This is by far the most important skill on this list. I only started developing this skill while writing my thesis but have since honed it while working in industrial R&D.   Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page   for the next blog post “Why I left academia in search of self-development”.

The value of this skill cannot be understated and luckily can be easily learned by anyone. Here’s how I make it work: Set aside 15 minutes for planning out your next 10-20 hours of work on a project. Create a large to-do list for each project (there are a lot of great Excel templates online). You can list some big milestones further out but keep the tiny details within range of tasks you could finish in the next few days. Every morning, review your tasks, add new discrete tasks that are now within range. Add a number (1-10) to every task to denote the order you’re going to work through them for this specific day. Stick to the list and avoid jumping to topics off-list that pop up. If something important   and   urgent pops up, add it to your list and give it a number.

Some examples for your shortlist if you were writing a thesis:

• Send email to professor about feedback from Chapter 4
• Re-format figure captions from Chapter 4
• Write two paragraphs about results from experiments on October 4 th -12 th
• Create summary plot for above experiments
• Import and reformat data from experiments October 19 th -27 th
• Write rough outline for rest of Chapter 5
• Send outline of Chapter 5 to professor
• Review feedback from professor on Chapter 4
• Make list of changes in Chapter 4 based on professor’s feedback this morning

Are you the type of person that writes “Make List” on your to-do list just so you have something to cross off? Do you write down tasks you just finished just to cross them off?

If you are, you have a head start on this method! Creating and working through a list in this much discretized detail has a lot of secondary effects. You’ll be forced to plan out your work in greater detail (and prioritize better). You’ll be more likely to use small chunks of time effectively to make progress and free up more time for yourself. Most importantly,   you’ll finish your day with a sense of accomplishment and forward momentum because you got things done , instead of the feeling that you moved the needle from 23% to 24% complete after 10 hours of work. As ridiculous as this list may sound, I’ve found it has a profound psychological effect on my motivation and momentum for the rest of the day. The key is to have the discipline to spend those first 15 minutes of your day planning instead of reacting to every thought or email that comes in. Try it out for one week straight and make modifications based on what is working for you.

Tip 2: Write everything that comes to mind, then trim and re-organize later.

If it’s flowing in your mind, get it into the whitespace of your document   somewhere . I’ve found that most technical writing blocks come when a person doesn’t know how exactly to write the next thing or isn’t sure what exactly should come next, even though they have ideas and words in their head for later sections. Your brain can get stuck running in circles testing out different ways to present the information and become paralyzed by the endless possibilities coupled with the lack of a clear path.

How can you put a puzzle together if you don’t know what the pieces look like?

It’s much easier to decide on the best idea flow   after   you’ve put the bulk of each idea onto the paper. When you have all the information in place and pseudo-organized, pick through it with a fine-tooth comb to trim down superfluous sentences and smooth out the transitions between paragraphs. Then, send the section to your adviser and group members for feedback. Continue writing other sections while waiting for their feedback.

Tip 3: Recognize that you don’t have to close every single loose end.

The point of your thesis is to document your discoveries and progress so that a new person can carry the torch forward without starting from scratch. If you found something interesting but can’t explain it, just present the data and state the questions still to be answered. Include your ideas about what could be done next to get closer to the answers. If you’ve spent more than three hours banging your head against the table staring at one plot, it’s time to move on to the next section. You’ll be surprised how working on other parts can stimulate ideas that can help close the difficult section off later.

Tip 4: Set up your formatting correctly immediately when starting.

Hopefully you’re proficient in LaTeX. If not (I wasn’t), learn how to properly assign section and sub-section headings in Word and to keep consistent formatting between them. This will be critical for auto-updating your table of contents. It will also help you collapse sections and jump around in your 200+ page document from the sidebar “Navigation Pane”. Create actual captions for your figures and tables using the built-in functionality and link references in the text to those captions. Now, when you add a new image earlier in the document, the figure and all its references will be updated automatically. Make sure to also set up your citation editor right away using the recommended format and make sure it can auto-generate the reference list. You may have gotten away with manually formatting these for short journal article submissions, but you will have untold headaches clicking through the text and re-numbering each reference if you don’t do this from the start. Check with your Graduate Studies department to see if they have a pre-formatted document you can use.

Tip 5: Remember that this is a struggle for   everyone .

If you find yourself getting lost in self-deprecation, re-frame your thinking. Instead of “Why can’t I focus on this?” ask yourself “What factors are causing me to lose focus and how can I limit these or mitigate their effects?” Instead of asking “Why can’t I make sense of this data?”, re-frame it as “How can I present this data factually while pointing out the unknowns?”

Tip 6: Put your phone on airplane mode and out of arms’ reach.

You already know that your phone is the #1 distraction you have. Make the distraction less of a willpower issue and more of a practicality issue by putting your phone on airplane mode and putting it somewhere on the other side of the room, in a box, in another room, etc. The further away, the better. Now you’ll have to weigh the hassle of getting up and retrieving it to quickly check it for notifications.

Tip 7: Use an auto-responder on your email or put it in Do Not Disturb mode.

Once your phone is hidden, it’s time to take care of distractions on your computer. Both Gmail and Outlook have functions to turn off notifications or stop retrieving messages altogether for set periods of time. For instance, you could set your send/receive interval to once every 4 hours. Another trick is to turn on your auto-responder to say something along the lines of “Thanks for your message. In order to focus on my writing, I’m currently only checking email at noon and 6pm. I will get back to you as soon as possible.” Others will pick up on this and email you less often and only about real issues.

Tip 8: Set a visible timer for focused work periods.

I found it much easier to sustain a 45-minute focused session if I knew I had a planned break coming up soon. There are several apps available for setting timers and some that can also mute your notifications while running. If you schedule your breaks (and actually give yourself a break when the timer runs out), you’ll be less likely to want a break at the first sign of frustration.

Tip 9: Build in a short 5-10 minute exercise routine for your breaks.

After a few good hours of focus my biggest hurdle was feeling anxious or restless. Some nights I would decide it was a “workout” night and every 30 minutes or so, I would get on the floor and do a few minutes pushups, crunches, bicycle kicks, leg lifts or planks. After a few minutes of this I’d be tired enough that I would   want   to sit back down and settle in. The big advantage was getting my blood flowing, which can stimulate your brain and give a small energy boost.

Tip 10: Work in an environment around other people who are focused (leverage social pressure).

Do you feel like exercising at high intensity more in an empty gym or one where there are dozens of others giving it their all? For me, it’s the latter. There’s a subconscious social pressure I feel to not stick out as slacking. I found the same effect in the library or coffee shop.

For some ridiculous reason, I felt like people behind me would judge me if I had Facebook up on my screen or was playing a game on my phone.

Even if that judgement was an illusion, I harnessed it to stay on-task. I found this especially helpful after 11pm or so to know that there were others doing the same thing. If all your friends are going out to the bar, do you get FOMO (fear of missing out) more at a coffee shop around others who are studying or staying home in the dark by yourself?

Tip 11: Change scenery regularly until you find your ideal spots.

My favorite part about thesis writing is that   I could work from anywhere . This is a novelty you may never have again in your life, depending on your field. Take advantage of this and find those magical hangouts where you can find your flow and blaze through your work.

In three months of writing, I visited at least eight different coffee shops plus every library on campus.

There were two or three that really worked for me, depending on the time of day. Even after a half-day at one of your favorite spots, it can be reinvigorating to move to another later in the day.

Tip 12: Find your best writing jams and don’t listen to them unless you’re ready to get in the zone.

This is a proven psychological trick. Do you still have a throwback song you associate with middle school or high school sports? Something your team listened to in the locker room to get pumped up? You can manufacture these associations in your brain in a similar way. Find your best playlists, and make sure to pause them while you’re taking breaks or if you find yourself distracted. When the music is on, it’s time to work. Listening to your best playlists while doing other things will dilute the association in your brain, so stay disciplined with this one!

Tip 13: Take a mid-day break with some form of exercise or activity.

The most productive day you can hope for is 10-12 hours of focused effort. If you deprive yourself of breaks early in the day you’re likely to grind to a halt in the evening and lose the equivalent of your would-be break time in procrastination and distraction. Be proactive about scheduling in your down time to elevate your productivity later in the day. For me personally, my best days included several short breaks evenly spread throughout the day plus one mid-day break of ~2 hours. This larger break was usually some combination of exercise, cooking, eating or cleaning. Experiment and find what works best for you!

Tip 14: Set aside 10 minutes in the morning to honestly review what went well and what didn’t work the previous day.

An honest self-assessment will do wonders for improving your methods each day. Approach it like an athlete watching game tape to identify weaknesses. Where did your distractions come from? How did you feel throughout the day?

When was your most productive time and what factors lead to that productivity?

Make changes in your strategy for the upcoming day, and review again the following day to see if it was an improvement.

Tip 15: Add an expected time of completion (ETC) to every item on your to-do list for that day.

This follows Tip #1 to break down projects into tiny discrete and definitely conquerable tasks. Make a reasonable guess of how long each thing should take if it goes smoothly. If you do well and get ahead of schedule, reward yourself with an extra break. If you get behind schedule, you’ll start to feel a sense of urgency that will motivate you to catch up.

The alternative is giving yourself 3 months to complete thousands of micro-tasks, at which point you’ll always feel overwhelmed and unsure of your pace to completion.

Tip 16: Take care of your body.

This is a marathon, not a sprint. Monitor your caffeine intake, your hours of sleep, your periods of exercise and the types of foods you eat. Keep it balanced day-to-day with only the occasional late night push when you're really in the zone. 

Tip 17: Dedicate time to being social!

If you’re writing your thesis you are likely approaching the end of your time at your school. This may be the last few months you have to spend with all of the friends and colleagues you’ve made along your journey. Don’t forget to dedicate a few hours a week to be social and relish in the time you have left to all be together. This is a time of your life you’ll remember forever, so better mix in some great memories!

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Thesis and Dissertation: Getting Started

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The resources in this section are designed to provide guidance for the first steps of the thesis or dissertation writing process. They offer tools to support the planning and managing of your project, including writing out your weekly schedule, outlining your goals, and organzing the various working elements of your project.

Weekly Goals Sheet (a.k.a. Life Map) [Word Doc]

This editable handout provides a place for you to fill in available time blocks on a weekly chart that will help you visualize the amount of time you have available to write. By using this chart, you will be able to work your writing goals into your schedule and put these goals into perspective with your day-to-day plans and responsibilities each week. This handout also contains a formula to help you determine the minimum number of pages you would need to write per day in order to complete your writing on time.

Setting a Production Schedule (Word Doc)

This editable handout can help you make sense of the various steps involved in the production of your thesis or dissertation and determine how long each step might take. A large part of this process involves (1) seeking out the most accurate and up-to-date information regarding specific document formatting requirements, (2) understanding research protocol limitations, (3) making note of deadlines, and (4) understanding your personal writing habits.

Creating a Roadmap (PDF)

Part of organizing your writing involves having a clear sense of how the different working parts relate to one another. Creating a roadmap for your dissertation early on can help you determine what the final document will include and how all the pieces are connected. This resource offers guidance on several approaches to creating a roadmap, including creating lists, maps, nut-shells, visuals, and different methods for outlining. It is important to remember that you can create more than one roadmap (or more than one type of roadmap) depending on how the different approaches discussed here meet your needs.

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Finishing your PhD thesis: 15 top tips from those in the know

Trying to complete a PhD thesis in time for the October deadline? We share some advice on getting over that final hurdle

• The key to a successful PhD thesis? Write in your own voice

Many PhD students are now in the final throes of writing their thesis. Turning years of research into a single, coherent piece of work can be tough, so we asked for tips from supervisors and recent PhD graduates. We were inundated with tweets and emails – and @AcademiaObscura helpfully created a Storify of the tweets. Below is a selection of the best tips.

1) Make sure you meet the PhD requirements for your institution “PhD students and their supervisors often presume things without checking. One supervisor told his student that a PhD was about 300 pages long so he wrote 300 pages. Unfortunately the supervisor had meant double-spaced, and the student had written single-spaced. Getting rid of 40,000 extra words with two weeks to go is not recommended.” ( Hannah Farrimond, lecturer in medical sociology, Exeter University)

2) Keep perspective “Everyone wants their thesis to be amazing, their magnum opus. But your most important work will come later. Think of your PhD as an apprenticeship. Your peers are unlikely to read your thesis and judge you on it. They are more likely to read any papers (articles, chapters, books) that result from it.” ( Dean D’Souza, PhD in cognitive neuroscience, Birkbeck, University of London)

3) Write the introduction last “Writing the introduction and conclusion together will help to tie up the thesis together, so save it for the end.” ( Ashish Jaiswal, PhD in business education, University of Oxford)

4) Use apps “ Trello is a project management tool (available as a smartphone app) which allows you to create ‘boards’ on which to pin all of your outstanding tasks, deadlines, and ideas. It allows you to make checklists too so you know that all of your important stuff is listed and to-hand, meaning you can focus on one thing at a time. It’s satisfying to move notes into the ‘done’ column too.” ( Lucy Irving, PhD in psychology, Middlesex University)

5) Address the unanswered questions “There will always be unanswered questions – don’t try to ignore or, even worse, obfuscate them. On the contrary, actively draw attention to them; identify them in your conclusion as areas for further investigation. Your PhD viva will go badly if you’ve attempted to disregard or evade the unresolved issues that your thesis has inevitably opened up.” ( Michael Perfect, PhD in English literature, University of Cambridge)

6) Buy your own laser printer “A basic monochrome laser printer that can print duplex (two-sided) can be bought online for less than £100, with off-brand replacement toners available for about £30 a pop. Repeatedly reprinting and editing draft thesis chapters has two very helpful functions. Firstly, it takes your work off the screen and onto paper, which is usually easier to proof. Secondly, it gives you a legitimate excuse to get away from your desk.” ( James Brown, PhD in architectural education, Queen’s University Belfast)

7) Checking is important “On days when your brain is too tired to write, check quotations, bibliography etc so you’re still making progress.” ( Julia Wright, professor of English at Dalhousie University, Canada)

8) Get feedback on the whole thesis “We often get feedback on individual chapters but plan to get feedback from your supervisor on the PhD as a whole to make sure it all hangs together nicely.” ( Mel Rohse, PhD in peace studies, University of Bradford)

9) Make sure you know when it will end “Sometimes supervisors use optimistic words such as ‘You are nearly there!’ Ask them to be specific. Are you three months away, or do you have six months’ worth of work? Or is it just a month’s load?” ( Rifat Mahbub, PhD in women’s studies, University of York)

10) Prepare for the viva “Don’t just focus on the thesis – the viva is very important too and examiners’ opinions can change following a successful viva. Remember that you are the expert in your specific field, not the examiners, and ask your supervisor to arrange a mock viva if practically possible.” ( Christine Jones , head of school of Welsh and bilingual studies, University of Wales Trinity St David)

11) Develop your own style “Take into account everything your supervisor has said, attend to their suggestions about revisions to your work but also be true to your own style of writing. What I found constructive was paying attention to the work of novelists I enjoy reading. It may seem that their style has nothing to do with your own field of research, but this does not matter. You can still absorb something of how they write and what makes it effective, compelling and believable.” ( Sarah Skyrme, PhD in sociology, Newcastle University)

12) Remember that more is not always better “A PhD thesis is not a race to the highest page count; don’t waste time padding.” ( Francis Woodhouse, PhD in mathematical biology, University of Cambridge)

13) Get a buddy “Find a colleague, your partner, a friend who is willing to support you. Share with them your milestones and goals, and agree to be accountable to them. This doesn’t mean they get to hassle or nag you, it just means someone else knows what you’re up to, and can help to check if your planning is realistic and achievable.” ( Cassandra Steer, PhD in criminology, University of Amsterdam)

14) Don’t pursue perfectionism “Remember that a PhD doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. Nothing more self-crippling than perfectionism.” ( Nathan Waddell, lecturer in modernist literature, Nottingham University )

15) Look after yourself “Go outside. Work outside if you can. Fresh air, trees and sunshine do wonders for what’s left of your sanity.” ( Helen Coverdale, PhD in law, LSE)

Do you have any tips to add? Share your advice in the comments below.

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

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PhD Thesis First Draft: 8 Practical Writing Tips for PhD Students

Many early career researchers will agree that the most difficult step in writing a PhD thesis is getting started. Students often find themselves mentally unprepared to take on this challenge as most formal training revolves around conducting research with little focus on how to write a PhD thesis. Uncertainty about the guidelines for PhD thesis writing and how to present their study in an engaging, impactful way often results in procrastination, self-doubt, and anxiety among otherwise confident researchers. The fact is students need to write a PhD thesis to complete their doctoral degree, and as ironic as it seems, the only remedy to this inertia is to meet this challenge head-on.

This article provides young researchers with practical tips to help them deliver a successful first draft when writing a PhD thesis.

• Create an outline and structure: A good way to start writing a PhD thesis is to first create a draft outline or structure of your thesis. Like journal articles, a PhD thesis must have an introduction that presents the key points of your study in a compelling way, a body section that contains the main aspects of your research along with supporting data and evidence, and a conclusion that summarizes the thesis and provides additional insights or suggestions for further research. This first step is important because once you have the right structure in place, summarizing your thesis can happen more easily.  
• Adhere to university or institutional guidelines: A common mistake that many students make while creating an outline and structure is not keeping in mind the guidelines for PhD thesis writing set by your university or institute. It’s important to adhere to the university or institute’s guidelines, for example the preferred structure or style of references, when writing a PhD thesis. Be sure to check with your supervisor to ensure that the word count, structure, citation style and other key elements of your thesis meet the recommended guidelines for PhD thesis writing.
• Use active voice and avoid grammatical and spelling errors: It is important to focus on using simple language that’s free of complicated jargon when writing a PhD thesis. To ensure better readability, use active voice instead of passive voice and avoid long winding sentences. Be aware of and avoid spelling and grammar errors such as dangling modifiers, subject-verb disagreement, and parallelism in your work. You can use AI tools like Paperpal for Word , which offers real-time suggestions to help you improve your language right from the first draft itself.
• Maintain consistency in your writing style: One of the most useful writing tips for PhD students is referring to the preferred style guide to ensure consistency in spellings, proper punctuation, correct hyphenation, and the right use of technical terms and phrases. Also check for consistency when it comes mentioning organizations and institutions, affiliations, references, legends and other key elements when writing a PhD thesis.
• Be careful when citing or quoting text: With the sheer quantum of research reading required when writing a PhD thesis, it can be difficult to keep track of sources of information. It is also quite possible for students to inadvertently introduce plagiarism in their writing by using chunks of well-written text as is or quoting information without citing it correctly. So be sure to properly cite any sources of data that you’re using in your thesis, including text, images and figures to avoid any ethical misconduct.
• Set a target deadline for completion : Another top writing tip for PhD students is to set a delivery date and stay committed to it. You can also share this goal with a broader set of people (peers, supervisor, friends, etc.), who will act as catalysts on the journey of writing your PhD thesis first draft and in the time you’ve set for yourself. It is critical however that the final deadline be realistic and take into account challenges that may come in the way of you achieving your goals.

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• Take time to make revisions and proofread before submission: This is one of the most important writing tips for PhD students, but one that often takes the back seat. Remember that no matter how clear your first draft seems about your research findings, argumentation and flow, there will always be room for improvement and especially to your first draft. Once you’re done with your first draft, be sure to revisit each chapter and make the necessary edits before sharing it ahead with your mentor for feedback. When planning your work, make sure to factor in ample time for editing and proofreading, so that all the work you put into writing a PhD thesis is polished before submission.
• Remember it’s a first draft and not the final version: If you’re getting stuck with your writing, move on and start work on a different section; you don’t need to write in chronological order as long as you follow the structure you’ve created for yourself. Remember the cardinal rule when wondering how to write a PhD thesis – No one gets it right in the first draft itself. Capture your thoughts and findings as clearly and engagingly as possible in your first draft, don’t waste too much time striving for perfection at this stage. You can always fine-tune your writing and repeat this process as you go along, which can help you reach your writing goals faster.

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• Good Writing Habits: 7 Ways to Improve Your Academic Writing
• How to Make Your Thesis Supervision Work for You
• 8 Most Effective Ways to Increase Motivation for Thesis Writing 
• PhD Dissertation Outline: Creating a Roadmap to Success

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• Dissertation

What Is a Dissertation? | Guide, Examples, & Template

A dissertation is a long-form piece of academic writing based on original research conducted by you. It is usually submitted as the final step in order to finish a PhD program.

Your dissertation is probably the longest piece of writing you’ve ever completed. It requires solid research, writing, and analysis skills, and it can be intimidating to know where to begin.

Your department likely has guidelines related to how your dissertation should be structured. When in doubt, consult with your supervisor.

You can also download our full dissertation template in the format of your choice below. The template includes a ready-made table of contents with notes on what to include in each chapter, easily adaptable to your department’s requirements.

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• In the US, a dissertation generally refers to the collection of research you conducted to obtain a PhD.
• In other countries (such as the UK), a dissertation often refers to the research you conduct to obtain your bachelor’s or master’s degree.

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Table of contents

Dissertation committee and prospectus process, how to write and structure a dissertation, acknowledgements or preface, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review, methodology, reference list, proofreading and editing, defending your dissertation, free checklist and lecture slides.

When you’ve finished your coursework, as well as any comprehensive exams or other requirements, you advance to “ABD” (All But Dissertation) status. This means you’ve completed everything except your dissertation.

Prior to starting to write, you must form your committee and write your prospectus or proposal . Your committee comprises your adviser and a few other faculty members. They can be from your own department, or, if your work is more interdisciplinary, from other departments. Your committee will guide you through the dissertation process, and ultimately decide whether you pass your dissertation defense and receive your PhD.

Your prospectus is a formal document presented to your committee, usually orally in a defense, outlining your research aims and objectives and showing why your topic is relevant . After passing your prospectus defense, you’re ready to start your research and writing.

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The structure of your dissertation depends on a variety of factors, such as your discipline, topic, and approach. Dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an overall argument to support a central thesis , with chapters organized around different themes or case studies.

However, hard science and social science dissertations typically include a review of existing works, a methodology section, an analysis of your original research, and a presentation of your results , presented in different chapters.

Dissertation examples

We’ve compiled a list of dissertation examples to help you get started.

• Example dissertation #1: Heat, Wildfire and Energy Demand: An Examination of Residential Buildings and Community Equity (a dissertation by C. A. Antonopoulos about the impact of extreme heat and wildfire on residential buildings and occupant exposure risks).
• Example dissertation #2: Exploring Income Volatility and Financial Health Among Middle-Income Households (a dissertation by M. Addo about income volatility and declining economic security among middle-income households).
• Example dissertation #3: The Use of Mindfulness Meditation to Increase the Efficacy of Mirror Visual Feedback for Reducing Phantom Limb Pain in Amputees (a dissertation by N. S. Mills about the effect of mindfulness-based interventions on the relationship between mirror visual feedback and the pain level in amputees with phantom limb pain).

The very first page of your document contains your dissertation title, your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date. Sometimes it also includes your student number, your supervisor’s name, and the university’s logo.

Read more about title pages

The acknowledgements section is usually optional and gives space for you to thank everyone who helped you in writing your dissertation. This might include your supervisors, participants in your research, and friends or family who supported you. In some cases, your acknowledgements are part of a preface.

Read more about acknowledgements Read more about prefaces

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The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, usually about 150 to 300 words long. Though this may seem very short, it’s one of the most important parts of your dissertation, because it introduces your work to your audience.

Your abstract should:

• State your main topic and the aims of your research
• Describe your methods
• Summarize your main results
• State your conclusions

Read more about abstracts

The table of contents lists all of your chapters, along with corresponding subheadings and page numbers. This gives your reader an overview of your structure and helps them easily navigate your document.

Remember to include all main parts of your dissertation in your table of contents, even the appendices. It’s easy to generate a table automatically in Word if you used heading styles. Generally speaking, you only include level 2 and level 3 headings, not every subheading you included in your finished work.

Read more about tables of contents

While not usually mandatory, it’s nice to include a list of figures and tables to help guide your reader if you have used a lot of these in your dissertation. It’s easy to generate one of these in Word using the Insert Caption feature.

Read more about lists of figures and tables

Similarly, if you have used a lot of abbreviations (especially industry-specific ones) in your dissertation, you can include them in an alphabetized list of abbreviations so that the reader can easily look up their meanings.

Read more about lists of abbreviations

In addition to the list of abbreviations, if you find yourself using a lot of highly specialized terms that you worry will not be familiar to your reader, consider including a glossary. Here, alphabetize the terms and include a brief description or definition.

Read more about glossaries

The introduction serves to set up your dissertation’s topic, purpose, and relevance. It tells the reader what to expect in the rest of your dissertation. The introduction should:

• Establish your research topic , giving the background information needed to contextualize your work
• Narrow down the focus and define the scope of your research
• Discuss the state of existing research on the topic, showing your work’s relevance to a broader problem or debate
• Clearly state your research questions and objectives
• Outline the flow of the rest of your work

Everything in the introduction should be clear, engaging, and relevant. By the end, the reader should understand the what, why, and how of your research.

Read more about introductions

A formative part of your research is your literature review . This helps you gain a thorough understanding of the academic work that already exists on your topic.

Literature reviews encompass:

• Finding relevant sources (e.g., books and journal articles)
• Assessing the credibility of your sources
• Critically analyzing and evaluating each source
• Drawing connections between them (e.g., themes, patterns, conflicts, or gaps) to strengthen your overall point

A literature review is not merely a summary of existing sources. Your literature review should have a coherent structure and argument that leads to a clear justification for your own research. It may aim to:

• Address a gap in the literature or build on existing knowledge
• Take a new theoretical or methodological approach to your topic
• Propose a solution to an unresolved problem or advance one side of a theoretical debate

Read more about literature reviews

Theoretical framework

Your literature review can often form the basis for your theoretical framework. Here, you define and analyze the key theories, concepts, and models that frame your research.

Read more about theoretical frameworks

Your methodology chapter describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to critically assess its credibility. Your methodology section should accurately report what you did, as well as convince your reader that this was the best way to answer your research question.

A methodology section should generally include:

• The overall research approach ( quantitative vs. qualitative ) and research methods (e.g., a longitudinal study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., interviews or a controlled experiment )
• Details of where, when, and with whom the research took place
• Any tools and materials you used (e.g., computer programs, lab equipment)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical analysis , discourse analysis )
• An evaluation or justification of your methods

Read more about methodology sections

Your results section should highlight what your methodology discovered. You can structure this section around sub-questions, hypotheses , or themes, but avoid including any subjective or speculative interpretation here.

Your results section should:

• Concisely state each relevant result together with relevant descriptive statistics (e.g., mean , standard deviation ) and inferential statistics (e.g., test statistics , p values )
• Briefly state how the result relates to the question or whether the hypothesis was supported
• Report all results that are relevant to your research questions , including any that did not meet your expectations.

Additional data (including raw numbers, full questionnaires, or interview transcripts) can be included as an appendix. You can include tables and figures, but only if they help the reader better understand your results. Read more about results sections

Your discussion section is your opportunity to explore the meaning and implications of your results in relation to your research question. Here, interpret your results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations and how well they fit with the framework that you built in earlier chapters. Refer back to relevant source material to show how your results fit within existing research in your field.

Some guiding questions include:

• What do your results mean?
• Why do your results matter?
• What limitations do the results have?

If any of the results were unexpected, offer explanations for why this might be. It’s a good idea to consider alternative interpretations of your data.

Read more about discussion sections

Your dissertation’s conclusion should concisely answer your main research question, leaving your reader with a clear understanding of your central argument and emphasizing what your research has contributed to the field.

In some disciplines, the conclusion is just a short section preceding the discussion section, but in other contexts, it is the final chapter of your work. Here, you wrap up your dissertation with a final reflection on what you found, with recommendations for future research and concluding remarks.

It’s important to leave the reader with a clear impression of why your research matters. What have you added to what was already known? Why is your research necessary for the future of your field?

Read more about conclusions

It is crucial to include a reference list or list of works cited with the full details of all the sources that you used, in order to avoid plagiarism. Be sure to choose one citation style and follow it consistently throughout your dissertation. Each style has strict and specific formatting requirements.

Common styles include MLA , Chicago , and APA , but which style you use is often set by your department or your field.

Create APA citations Create MLA citations

Your dissertation should contain only essential information that directly contributes to answering your research question. Documents such as interview transcripts or survey questions can be added as appendices, rather than adding them to the main body.

Read more about appendices

Making sure that all of your sections are in the right place is only the first step to a well-written dissertation. Don’t forget to leave plenty of time for editing and proofreading, as grammar mistakes and sloppy spelling errors can really negatively impact your work.

Dissertations can take up to five years to write, so you will definitely want to make sure that everything is perfect before submitting. You may want to consider using a professional dissertation editing service , AI proofreader or grammar checker to make sure your final project is perfect prior to submitting.

After your written dissertation is approved, your committee will schedule a defense. Similarly to defending your prospectus, dissertation defenses are oral presentations of your work. You’ll present your dissertation, and your committee will ask you questions. Many departments allow family members, friends, and other people who are interested to join as well.

After your defense, your committee will meet, and then inform you whether you have passed. Keep in mind that defenses are usually just a formality; most committees will have resolved any serious issues with your work with you far prior to your defense, giving you ample time to fix any problems.

As you write your dissertation, you can use this simple checklist to make sure you’ve included all the essentials.

Checklist: Dissertation

My title page includes all information required by my university.

I have included acknowledgements thanking those who helped me.

My abstract provides a concise summary of the dissertation, giving the reader a clear idea of my key results or arguments.

I have created a table of contents to help the reader navigate my dissertation. It includes all chapter titles, but excludes the title page, acknowledgements, and abstract.

My introduction leads into my topic in an engaging way and shows the relevance of my research.

My introduction clearly defines the focus of my research, stating my research questions and research objectives .

My introduction includes an overview of the dissertation’s structure (reading guide).

I have conducted a literature review in which I (1) critically engage with sources, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, (2) discuss patterns, themes, and debates in the literature, and (3) address a gap or show how my research contributes to existing research.

I have clearly outlined the theoretical framework of my research, explaining the theories and models that support my approach.

I have thoroughly described my methodology , explaining how I collected data and analyzed data.

I have concisely and objectively reported all relevant results .

I have (1) evaluated and interpreted the meaning of the results and (2) acknowledged any important limitations of the results in my discussion .

I have clearly stated the answer to my main research question in the conclusion .

I have clearly explained the implications of my conclusion, emphasizing what new insight my research has contributed.

I have provided relevant recommendations for further research or practice.

If relevant, I have included appendices with supplemental information.

I have included an in-text citation every time I use words, ideas, or information from a source.

I have listed every source in a reference list at the end of my dissertation.

I have consistently followed the rules of my chosen citation style .

I have followed all formatting guidelines provided by my university.

Congratulations!

The end is in sight—your dissertation is nearly ready to submit! Make sure it's perfectly polished with the help of a Scribbr editor.

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9 Tips to write your PhD thesis

Writing a thesis to complete your PhD degree can be an exacting task that you may struggle to accomplish. As you must condense years of research into a single document, it can be difficult to know where to begin, how to begin, what exactly you should write, and so on.

Even though the best advice you can get on this subject from your supervisor and fellow researchers, we have compiled a list of 9 tips to help you write your PhD thesis.

These are the most common tips for developing a thesis structure. There is a chance that you may overlook some details while preparing your thesis. Thus, in order to keep everything in place and to assist you, we have come up with a list of 9 crucial tips in this article.

9 tips for Writing Your PhD Thesis Before you begin, consider the following:

• Structure your idea

Make a proper structure of your concept. What you want to write, how you want to write it and so on. Brainstorm and create a detailed map of the idea. Don’t worry about the order at first; just write down whatever comes to your mind. This will allow you to keep a track of important details you want to include in your thesis and ensure that you do not neglect them while writing.

• Make a scheduled

A schedule allows you to complete your work on time. Set a proper time limit for each chapter or section. Try to finish it within the set time limit. This will make it easier for you to maintain your focus and keep track of your learning. Make it a habit to write some pages every day. Take into account how many pages you can write per day and which time of the day you feel more productive. Make your schedule with these points in mind, and work according to your routine. This method will greatly help you to simplify your work.

• Remember the first draft is not the final draft

This is an extremely important point to remember, your first draft is not your final draft. As a result, it does not have to be perfect. The sentence can be incorrect, and the arguments do not have to be appropriate. Everything can be refined later in another draft. So, don’t expect perfection from the first draft. The primary goal of the first draft is to get everything down on paper not perfection. Once you have finished the first draft, you can edit, add, or remove points that you believe are unnecessary in the first draft.

• Take breaks

Writing a thesis is a time-consuming process that requires you to devote a lot of time to it, in order to complete it by the deadline. But that doesn’t mean you have to go above and beyond your limit. Set aside a specific time to write and stick to the timetable. Your mind requires rest in order to process information and produce beneficial results. If you continue to work beyond your capacity, you will become tired and irritable. Taking proper breaks between tasks is essential for your mind and body.

• Write an introduction in the last

Writing the introduction first may be difficult and confusing as you may become unsure of what you should write. Hence, it is best to write the body of the chapter first; this will help you clarify what you want to introduce and will allow you to write a better introduction. The same rule applies to dissertation writing too.

• Get feedback early

Nothing beats having a supportive and kind supervisor who provides frequent and early feedback. You can share your work with him or her frequently and solicit feedback. He or she will detect the issue early on and assist you with the difficult sections. This way, you can finish your work on time and avoid having to rewrite a chapter right before the deadline.

• Include your personal experience

If you have done an internship and have extensive experience, you can incorporate it into your thesis. You can write about what motivated you to choose the specific subject for research or your personal experience with the problem of the specific field you are discussing in your thesis. However, remember to back up every statement you make with a proper reference or evidence, as statements without proper reference or evidence are not acceptable in the PhD thesis.

• Don’t forget to proofread

When you’ve finished writing your thesis and have your final draft in hand, don’t forget to proofread it before submitting it. Look for spelling and grammatical errors. Read the entire document carefully and thoroughly. Reading aloud will help you catch mistakes more easily. Reread the sentences that sound incorrect, incomplete, or unusual. If you are not satisfied, rewrite them. Never skip proofreading your thesis because even minor errors can cost you dearly.

• Most important – start writing

We’ve covered most of the aspects of writing a thesis, but the most important thing to remember is to just start writing. You may believe that your research is incomplete or that you require additional data to begin writing your thesis. However, there is never a set amount of research or data that is sufficient to start writing a thesis. So stop making excuses and start writing with whatever data you have. Because getting everything on paper is the best way to know what works and what doesn’t.

These are some general tips to keep in mind as you write your PhD thesis. Remember that writing a thesis is an important part of your PhD degree, and it may stress you out, but stay calm and focused. Don’t burn yourself out, and if you’re stuck, seek advice from your supervisor or a fellow researcher.

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How to Write a PhD Thesis: A Comprehensive Guide

Writing a Ph.D. thesis can be a daunting task, but with the right approach and guidance, it can become a fulfilling and rewarding experience. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the essential steps of writing a successful PhD thesis. We’ll cover everything from choosing your research topic to presenting your findings and defending your thesis. By the end of this guide, you will have a clear understanding of what it takes to write a PhD thesis that can outrank other websites and earn you the recognition you deserve.

In This Article We Know About the:

Introduction

Choosing a research topic, conducting a literature review, formulating research questions and hypotheses, developing a research design, collecting and analyzing data, presenting your findings, writing your thesis, editing and revising your thesis.

• Defending your thesis

Table of Contents

In this section, we will introduce the purpose of a PhD thesis and why it is important. We will discuss the significance of writing a high-quality thesis and how it can benefit both the individual researcher and the academic community as a whole. We will also provide an overview of the main steps involved in writing a successful thesis.

The first step in writing a PhD thesis is to choose a research topic. In this section, we will discuss how to select a topic that is both interesting and feasible. We will cover techniques for brainstorming, conducting preliminary research, and narrowing down your topic to a manageable scope.

Once you have chosen your research topic, the next step is to conduct a thorough literature review. In this section, we will discuss how to search for and analyze existing literature on your topic. We will also cover strategies for organizing your findings and identifying gaps in the literature that your research can fill.

After conducting your literature review, you will need to formulate research questions and hypotheses. In this section, we will discuss how to develop clear and focused research questions that are grounded in your literature review. We will also cover how to formulate testable hypotheses that can guide your research design and data analysis.

With your research questions and hypotheses in place, you can begin to develop a research design. In this section, we will discuss the different types of research designs available and the factors that should be considered when choosing the most appropriate design for your study. We will also cover issues such as sampling, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.

Once you have developed your research design, the next step is to collect and analyze data. In this section, we will discuss different methods for data collection, including surveys, interviews, and experiments. We will also cover strategies for analyzing your data, including statistical analysis and qualitative analysis.

After analyzing your data, you will need to present your findings. In this section, we will discuss different strategies for presenting your results, including tables, graphs, and charts. We will also cover how to write a clear and concise results section that highlights the most important findings from your study.

With your results in hand, you can now begin to write your thesis. In this section, we will discuss how to structure your thesis and what to include in each section. We will cover issues such as the introduction, literature review, research design, data analysis, and conclusions.

Once you have written your thesis, the next step is to edit and revise it. In this section, we will discuss strategies for improving the clarity and coherence of your writing.

Tips for Writing a PhD Thesis

When it comes to writing a PhD thesis, there are several tips that can help make the process smoother and more manageable:

• Start early: Writing a PhD thesis is a significant undertaking that can take years to complete. Starting early and working consistently can help prevent last-minute stress and ensure that the final product is of the highest quality.
• Create a schedule: Set aside specific times for working on the thesis and stick to them as much as possible. This can help create a sense of routine and structure that can make the writing process more manageable.
• Break it down: Writing a PhD thesis can be overwhelming, so it’s helpful to break the process down into smaller, more manageable tasks. This can help prevent burnout and make the overall process less daunting.
• Seek feedback: Getting feedback from peers, mentors, and advisors can be invaluable in improving the quality of the thesis. Be open to constructive criticism and be willing to make changes as needed.
• Take breaks: Writing a PhD thesis can be mentally and emotionally taxing, so it’s important to take breaks and step away from the work as needed. This can help prevent burnout and ensure that the writing process remains productive.

FAQs about Writing a PhD Thesis

Q: What should be included in a PhD thesis?

A: A PhD thesis should include a clear research question or hypothesis, a literature review, methodology, data analysis, results, and discussion of findings.

Q: How long does it take to write a PhD thesis?

A: Writing a PhD thesis can take several years, depending on the complexity of the research and the individual’s writing process.

Q: How do I choose a research topic for my PhD thesis?

A: Choose a research topic that you are passionate about and that aligns with your academic and career goals. It’s also important to consider the feasibility of the research and the resources available.

Q: How do I stay motivated during the writing process?

A: It’s important to set realistic goals, take breaks as needed, and seek support from peers, mentors, and advisors. Celebrating small milestones along the way can also help maintain motivation.

Q: What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a PhD thesis?

A: Some common mistakes to avoid include procrastination, neglecting feedback, failing to properly cite sources, and failing to follow formatting guidelines.

In conclusion, writing a PhD thesis is a challenging but rewarding undertaking that requires careful planning, consistent effort, and a willingness to seek feedback and make changes. By following the tips and guidelines outlined in this article, aspiring PhD candidates can produce high-quality, impactful research that contributes to their field of study. Remember to take breaks, seek support when needed, and stay focused on the end goal. Good luck!

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Five tips for writing your PhD thesis

A PhD is a unique experience, filled with exciting and unpredictable challenges. One of the most noteworthy is the PhD thesis, where you compile your research and arguments into one extensive document. Sounds overwhelming? It needn’t be. Here are five tips to help you hit the ground running.

Be ruthless

No writer strikes gold upon their first draft – the secret is to edit, edit and edit again. Be proactive and work with your supervisor to devise your thesis’ structure. Don’t feel you have to write in chronological order – work on each chapter while it is fresh in your mind. Look objectively when you edit your work. Furthermore, be ruthless. Take a step back and assess your writing as if you’re reading someone else’s.

Be on the ball

Don’t leave everything until the last minute. Write up your methods in the style of a thesis as you go along. Continually update your literature review with new and relevant information. Manage your bibliography from day one. If you start as you mean to go on, PhD life will be a lot less stressful.

Be consistent

Sometimes, you can have so many references to cite that you can get muddled. All references need to be crosschecked with your bibliography before submission, so it’s important that you get it right. Manage your bibliography from day one and it’ll save you save a great deal of time and stress.

It’s important you maintain originality throughout your work. If you’re using quotes, ensure they’re accurate and paraphrase them where necessary. The last thing you want before attending your viva is to be pulled up for plagiarism.

The viva is one of the scariest parts of the PhD process. Therefore, it’s important you know what you’re talking about. Ensure you aware of exactly what you’ve done and why you’ve done it, as well as what possibly didn’t work and how you overcame it. Furthermore, think about your audience. Don’t waffle on for the sake of the word count. Keep it concise and cut out anything superfluous.

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Know How to Structure Your PhD Thesis

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In your academic career, few projects are more important than your PhD thesis. Unfortunately, many university professors and advisors assume that their students know how to structure a PhD. Books have literally been written on the subject, but there’s no need to read a book in order to know about PhD thesis paper format and structure. With that said, however, it’s important to understand that your PhD thesis format requirement may not be the same as another student’s. The bottom line is that how to structure a PhD thesis often depends on your university and department guidelines.

But, let’s take a look at a general PhD thesis format. We’ll look at the main sections, and how to connect them to each other. We’ll also examine different hints and tips for each of the sections. As you read through this toolkit, compare it to published PhD theses in your area of study to see how a real-life example looks.

Main Sections of a PhD Thesis

In almost every PhD thesis or dissertation, there are standard sections. Of course, some of these may differ, depending on your university or department requirements, as well as your topic of study, but this will give you a good idea of the basic components of a PhD thesis format.

• Abstract : The abstract is a brief summary that quickly outlines your research, touches on each of the main sections of your thesis, and clearly outlines your contribution to the field by way of your PhD thesis. Even though the abstract is very short, similar to what you’ve seen in published research articles, its impact shouldn’t be underestimated. The abstract is there to answer the most important question to the reviewer. “Why is this important?”
• Introduction : In this section, you help the reviewer understand your entire dissertation, including what your paper is about, why it’s important to the field, a brief description of your methodology, and how your research and the thesis are laid out. Think of your introduction as an expansion of your abstract.
• Literature Review : Within the literature review, you are making a case for your new research by telling the story of the work that’s already been done. You’ll cover a bit about the history of the topic at hand, and how your study fits into the present and future.
• Theory Framework : Here, you explain assumptions related to your study. Here you’re explaining to the review what theoretical concepts you might have used in your research, how it relates to existing knowledge and ideas.
• Methods : This section of a PhD thesis is typically the most detailed and descriptive, depending of course on your research design. Here you’ll discuss the specific techniques you used to get the information you were looking for, in addition to how those methods are relevant and appropriate, as well as how you specifically used each method described.
• Results : Here you present your empirical findings. This section is sometimes also called the “empiracles” chapter. This section is usually pretty straightforward and technical, and full of details. Don’t shortcut this chapter.
• Discussion : This can be a tricky chapter, because it’s where you want to show the reviewer that you know what you’re talking about. You need to speak as a PhD versus a student. The discussion chapter is similar to the empirical/results chapter, but you’re building on those results to push the new information that you learned, prior to making your conclusion.
• Conclusion : Here, you take a step back and reflect on what your original goals and intentions for the research were. You’ll outline them in context of your new findings and expertise.

Tips for your PhD Thesis Format

As you put together your PhD thesis, it’s easy to get a little overwhelmed. Here are some tips that might keep you on track.

• Don’t try to write your PhD as a first-draft. Every great masterwork has typically been edited, and edited, and…edited.
• Work with your thesis supervisor to plan the structure and format of your PhD thesis. Be prepared to rewrite each section, as you work out rough drafts. Don’t get discouraged by this process. It’s typical.
• Make your writing interesting. Academic writing has a reputation of being very dry.
• You don’t have to necessarily work on the chapters and sections outlined above in chronological order. Work on each section as things come up, and while your work on that section is relevant to what you’re doing.
• Don’t rush things. Write a first draft, and leave it for a few days, so you can come back to it with a more critical take. Look at it objectively and carefully grammatical errors, clarity, logic and flow.
• Know what style your references need to be in, and utilize tools out there to organize them in the required format.
• It’s easier to accidentally plagiarize than you think. Make sure you’re referencing appropriately, and check your document for inadvertent plagiarism throughout your writing process.

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Seven tips for clear and concise writing in your PhD

Jun 7, 2019

Without discrediting the merit of academic investigation and the findings you’ve produced, at the heart of a PhD is a goal to make the examiner happy.  Clear, concise writing is an important component of achieving that goal.

Concise writing is easier to read and easier to follow but is something that many PhD students struggle with. We academics aren’t known for our clear writing. Perhaps that’s why there’s a misconception in academia that the more complicated the sentence the better, as if our intellect is judged on the basis of the length of our words, or whether we are using colourful language.

Why though? If so many other academics get away with bad writing, why do you have to put the effort in to improve the clarity of your own work? Simple: the person reading your thesis doesn’t know what’s about to come. You do, so for you, it’s obvious. 

Recently, someone   asked on Quora   for examples of well written academic texts. Read this response from a university professor and thesis examiner and you’ll see why all of this is important: 

“Far and away the best piece of academic writing I’ve had the pleasure of reading is Andrew Tridgell’s PhD thesis/dissertation ‘Efficient algorithms for sorting and synchronization’.

Things that make it so good are that is uses clear, concise language, making it easily accessible to those not familiar with the topic; it uses a strong, first-person voice throughout, eschewing academic pomposity; and overall it succeeds in making what could be a dry, technical topic into something interesting.

Basically, it’s the opposite of a large proportion of academic writing, which tend to obfuscate the research rather than illuminate”

In this guide I talk about seven easy ways to make your writing clearer and more concise. 

Interested in group workshops, cohort-courses and a free PhD learning & support community? 

The team behind The PhD Proofreaders have launched The PhD People, a free learning and community platform for PhD students. Connect, share and learn with other students, and boost your skills with cohort-based workshops and courses.

1. edit ruthlessly.

Authors generally follow the following mantra: write first, edit later. They get the words on the page and then go through line by line and remove as many of them as possible. 

You should do the same. When you’ve finished writing, edit ruthlessly. However, make sure that you don’t lose the meaning. Instead, you’re aiming to remove the words that add nothing to the text or, put differently, do not take anything away from the meaning when you remove them. 

Let me show you what I mean:

Image credit

You see how, even though sixteen words have been removed, the meaning hasn’t changed? What has changed is the way the passage reads. It flows more beautifully. 

This kind of copyediting can dramatically improve the readability of your writing. Plus, it frees up valuable words. It’s an important, albeit difficult, skill to learn.

Your PhD thesis. All on one page. 

Use our free PhD structure template to quickly visualise every element of your thesis. 

There is a tendency to think that, once you have written your first draft, all that’s required is a simple edit. Sometimes, though, you’ll need to undertake a more serious, hardcore edit. You might need to turn one chapter into two, or completely rewrite an entire section.

How do you know when this kind of heavy-duty edit is required? You have to ask yourself whether the draft serves its intended purpose. In each of the lessons in section one, we developed a series of checklists and questions that the reader must be able to answer when they finished reading each chapter. When you read through your own work, keep these in mind, as they’ll inform your understanding of how drastic your edits need to be.

If the draft diverges from the intended purposes, you may need to edit drastically. Don’t be scared of cutting words; your primary concern is with making the right point as clearly as possible.

2. Vary your sentence length

Having sentences of varying lengths is a great way to improve readability and clarity.

 Let’s see why:

The benefit of varying sentence length is self-evident: mix up your sentence length if you want to keep your reader engaged. It makes your words sing.

3. Don’t make promises you can’t keep

Phrased differently, do what you say you’re going to do. If you spend your introduction saying, ‘I will do a, b and c’, you’d better make sure the text that follows actually does a, b and c. If it doesn’t, you are misleading the examiner. This won’t just confuse them, it’ll shatter your credibility. They’ll think you’re scatty.

We can extend this – don’t make claims that you haven’t backed up. This is something I see all the time with PhD students I work with – a bold claim with no supporting evidence or references. Your examiner won’t appreciate this and, worse still, it’ll confuse them.

What’s more, you’ll need to make sure you stay on point. Clearly lay out your argument (we’ll focus on this in the next lesson) and then make sure that everything that follows is related to it. Again, refer back to the previous lessons and ask yourself whether each chapter does what it is supposed to and whether or not it does anything it isn’t. Anything irrelevant, superfluous or contradictory can be deleted or moved elsewhere.

Going further still: don’t over-promise on your contribution. The chances are that your contribution is small and specific. That’s fine. Don’t feel the need to overstate it by claiming you are doing something you aren’t. It’s dishonest; the examiner will see straight through it.

4. Spend time in the reader’s head

One thing that good writers spend a lot of time doing is imagining things from the reader’s perspective.

You should do the same. Try to understand what your reader/examiner is likely to know already before reading your thesis and, just as importantly, what they aren’t likely to know. This will have an impact on how much detail you go into in particular sections. 

Is a particular theoretical idea common knowledge in your field? Does your examiner come from your field? No need to spend too long talking about its every detail. Be concise, move on.

Alternatively, is your examiner from a different discipline? Are there certain things you take for granted but someone outside the discipline may struggle with? Go into a little more detail. It’ll help them follow along.

One of your main jobs when writing is to make the reader’s job as easy as possible. To do that, you need to know what they already know and what they need to know. 

5. Write as if you’re already a Doctor

The job of a thesis isn’t just to showcase your study to the reader. It’s to show your reader that you’re worthy of calling yourself Doctor . This doesn’t discount the importance of the study, you can’t have one without the other, but it does have an important implication:

You need to write as if you’re already a Doctor.

Put as much effort into writing your thesis as you did in designing and carrying out the research. Speak with an authoritative voice and convince the reader that you know what you’re doing. Speak with conviction and stand by your decisions. Don’t get lost in the authors.

In other words, find your voice.

One effective way of doing so is to write as often as possible. What’s more, the act of writing itself is an excellent way to clarify your own thoughts and give order to what which, when in your head, is disordered and lacks coherence.

Of course, to find your voice you need to have something worth writing about. This is an obvious piece of advice, but one worth stressing. The more clearly you understand what it is you are trying to say, the more easily you will be able to get that across clearly and concisely.

There are two dimensions to this though. Most importantly, clearly, is your skill as an academic and researcher. It’s your knowledge and the intellectual artefacts that you carry. But there’s also an understanding of what goes where in the thesis, of knowing the purpose of each section and knowing how to structure it accordingly. The lessons in section one of this course will help you in this regard.

6. Spend time reading

It makes sense that to become more adept at writing in English you should read good examples of its use. Yet we often overlook it, primarily, I think, because we spend all day reading for our PhDs. We don’t often stop to explicitly seek out well-written prose, poetry or academic text and read it mindful of what makes it so well-written in the first place.

So, with that in mind, spend time each week reading well-written journal articles or book chapters. Carefully consider how they have been written.

When you read these texts, ask yourself

• How have they structured their introduction? Can you understand the article/chapter just from reading the introduction?
• How have they structured the article as a whole? Have they discussed things that aren’t directly related to their argument?
• Do they use long sentences with lots of commas or do they keep their sentences short?
• How do they conclude?

Thinking carefully about these things will help you understand your own writing. How do you introduce your argument? How do you structure your introduction? How does that compare? Is there anything you can learn?

7. Avoid pompous academic writing

We all know what this is. That awful, pointless way that we academics write when we’re allowed to. It’s the pretentious ‘look how many long words I can use’ approach to writing.

When we talk about pompous academic writing, Judith Butler comes to mind. She’s a big deal in her field (and beyond, in fact) and teaches at Berkeley.  However, she is also famous for her impenetrable writing. So much so that she won a prize for having the   worst academic writing of 1999 , awarded by the journal Philosophy and Literature.

Here’s an example:

“The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power.” (Judith Butler (1997) ‘Further Reflections on Conversations of Our Time’ Diacritics 27(1) pp. 13-15) 

Yes, that’s one sentence. No, I have no idea what it means either.

Whilst this is an extreme example, I’m sure you can recognise this kind of academic pomposity all around you.

To avoid falling into this trap, you can do three things.

1. Use the simplest words you can get away with.

When you are editing your work and you come across a pompous or unusual word, ask yourself whether the meaning would be retained but the readability improved if you used a more typical word instead.

2. Use the word ‘I’.

If your institution and supervisors/advisers allow, use the first person pronoun ‘I’.

3. Imagine if you were reading aloud to a group of non-academic friends.

Would they understand the words you use? Would they laugh at you for being pompous?

Make sure you don’t take this too far though. You don’t want to write too informally. You certainly don’t want to be writing in slang or colloquialisms. What’s more, taking complex ideas, terminology and language and ‘dumbing it down’ is not only really laborious, but it is also extremely reductive, meaning that you risk stripping away important meaning. Instead, the emphasis is on avoiding jargon and being pompous for the sake of it. Remember, you want to make the reader’s job  as easy as possible. The reader wants you to convey complexity, but they don’t need you to be pompous while you do it.

Summary: How to write concisely

In this guide we have focused on quick ideas you can incorporate into your day-to-day PhD writing. We learnt the importance of writing concisely and looked at seven tips you can use right now:

1. Edit ruthlessly.

2. Vary your sentence length.

3. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

4. Spend time in the reader’s head.

5. Write as if you’re already a Doctor.

6. Read well-written articles.

7. Avoid the pompous academic trap.

There’s certainly more to writing concisely than these tips. Indeed, you could spend a lifetime mastering the art. However, the aim here has been to provide you with skills that you can incorporate easily and quickly in a way that respects the limited time and resources you have available.

Hello, Doctor…

Sounds good, doesn’t it?  Be able to call yourself Doctor sooner with our five-star rated How to Write A PhD email-course. Learn everything your supervisor should have taught you about planning and completing a PhD.

Now half price. Join hundreds of other students and become a better thesis writer, or your money back. 

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Is it advicable to read everything and then start writing or write whatever comes along your reading?

Write as much as you can, as often as you can! Even if it doesn’t end up in the thesis, regular writing practice is a great way to progress in your studies.

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• 28 October, 2021

A PhD is many things : exciting, tedious, stimulating, tiring… the list goes on. All the hard work and stress culminates in a thesis or dissertation, the goal of which is to demonstrate that you furthered your field by presenting your findings in an original, behemoth piece of work. As with any large piece of work, you’ll likely benefit from taking your time with it, and from working slowly but steadily across the years. At the end, you will come out the other end a bona fide expert in your field!

Before that, it is important, at all stages of the PhD, to ensure that you have done the necessary preparatory work before you even sit down to write . This article shares the three most important things you need to do in preparation for writing your thesis. 

Manage your data

During the course of a PhD, you will generate findings and produce data of some description. For researchers in STEM disciplines, much of that data will probably need to be presented visually in some way. So, a great way to stay on top of things is to create these figures, graphs, tables , etc. as you progress and ensure they are up to publication standard.

With very easily accessible software at our fingertips, it has never been easier to produce high-quality figures in a matter of a few minutes. By making sure you create these figures as you go and produce data, you’ll be doing yourself a favour, as you’ll have them ready to slot into papers or your thesis when it comes time to write and finalise it. Bonus points for writing the caption while you’re at it!

Create and use file systems

So, you’ve created fantastic, high-quality figures and illustrations – but that’s only half the battle. They are of no use to you if you can’t easily find them. 

However tempting it is to save ‘figure 1 FINAL’ [for example] on your desktop and forget about it until you need it again, you’re likely to regret this later. Create a well-organised naming and filing system on your hard drive, so that when it comes time to compile your thesis, you’re ready to proceed. All you’ll need to do at that stage is to drag and drop the graphics you need, knowing exactly where everything is. 

On top of that, don’t forget to back up all of your work to either a cloud service or a physical, external drive, just to be extra sure you always have access to your data should anything happen. 

Write as you go

As with creating figures as you progress, you are most likely going to be able to get certain parts of the thesis written quickly and easily as you go. These could include, for example, your Methods section, Introduction or parts of your Discussion , if and when you’re ready to get into it. 

However, remember that your thesis is a live document up until the moment of submission , so don’t worry about it being in its absolutely final state and know that it is perfectly acceptable and normal to rewrite and edit sections as you go along. Getting things written and editing it down later is far easier than trying to get it right from the start!

It may feel daunting, but your thesis can be an entirely manageable document to produce. The key is to do little, but often and consistently. Remember to polish figures as you produce them, and to file them in a sensible, organised system. Finally, write what you can as you go – when it is time to focus all your energy on writing up and preparing your thesis for submission, having all these elements already in place and ready to go will save you much valuable time and effort.

Read next in series: PhD Writing 2: How to improve your writing skills in preparation for writing your thesis

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